Geneva -- Marathon talks to salvage a global trade pact collapsed on Tuesday as the United States and India refused to compromise over a proposal to help poor farmers deal with floods of imports.

    The World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy announced the ministerial meeting seeking a breakthrough of the Doha Round had collapsed.

    The ministers were "simply not able to bridge their differences ", Lamy told a press conference after the breakup of negotiations by trade ministers from some 35 major WTO members.

    The high-level talks ended after nine days and produced no new trade openings for farmers and manufacturers, no global economic boost and no grand deal for Third World development. By all accounts it was a bitter failure.

    Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming expressed his regret that the talks had broken down over a proposal to help poor farmers cope with import surges, despite flexibility by China on a range of trade areas, according to a statement.

    The "tragic failure" is a serious setback to the troubled world economy, Chen said.

    China had shown willingness to compromise on a proposal restricting developing countries' ability to shield entire industrial sectors from lower tariff cuts. It had indicated its willingess to liberalise some services sectors, he said.

    "In the face of a world economic